Industrial clay is used for many applications including, but not limited to, sculpting, mold preparation, and many more. Pure clay is, however, fragile when dry, dense, and heavy causing structures made from clay to warp and/or crack, thereby, limiting its use. The problems caused by clay cracking or warping during the drying process are sometimes mitigated by controlled drying such as covering clay structures to reduce moisture slowly, designing structures for effects of shrinkage, actively moistening surfaces of the structure during the drying process, and similar operations. These approaches all add to the complexity and cost of using clay making it more difficult for users.
Mixtures of clay with lighter material to overcome these shortcomings have been tried including clay/pulp mixes. Additives such as sand, grog, nylon, fiberglass, polypropylene, and the like, are used to strengthen clay before or after drying (or baking). While each of these materials may add a different property to clay, they bring along their own disadvantages from increased complexity of mixing to use restrictions.